


truth/lies

by clarence_sage



Series: bored [1]
Category: Mindhunter (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, I think? I'm not sure how to use that tag correctly, Psychopath Holden Ford, and I don't know how to say that, kind of, the main point is that it's close to canon but also very far
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 07:22:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20336308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarence_sage/pseuds/clarence_sage
Summary: "Holden knew what kind of game Kemper was playing, and he was going to play along."AU where Holden is a psychopath who gets his kicks from messing with convicted serial killers and that last Holden & Kemper scene in S01E10 goes a little differently.Not very good, I’m afraid, but I did try.





	truth/lies

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to apologise for this; it's really not very good.

When Ed Kemper stood up at his full height and placed himself between Holden and the door, Holden pretended that he was intimidated, because that’s what Ed Kemper was expecting to see. 

“The only way I could have those girls was to kill them. And it worked,” Kemper said flatly. Holden knew Kemper was trying to scare him, so he pretended that it was working. 

“They became my spirit wives,” Kemper added. “They’re still with me.”

Holden thought that was ridiculous. 

He pretended to be more scared, discreetly. It was cute, the way Kemper wasn’t even being subtle about trying to scare him. To intimidate him. To ‘freak him out’. As always, Kemper was being outright. He wasn’t beating about the bush. Holden wasn’t sure if he liked or disliked that about the man. He supposed he didn’t really care. 

“Funny thing in the ICU, there's no system to alert the guards. It's short-sighted, seeing what kind of people come through,” Kemper said. 

Holden was enjoying himself. He didn’t get to feel that very often. It was so rarely that he got entertainment out of life, and he was really working at it. He was performing live, Kemper was his audience. His audience who hadn’t realised that none of it was genuine. He changed his breathing pattern to make it seem like his defences were failing. 

“I could kill you now, pretty easily. Do some interesting things before anyone showed up.” 

Holden tensed, trying to make himself look more and more like a cornered mouse. He knew Ed was a direct man, but the outright threats seemed almost lazy. ‘ _ You can do better than that _ ,’ he wanted to say. But he stayed dead silent, making Kemper think that he was in control, and Holden was at his mercy. 

“Then  _ you'd _ be with me in spirit,” Kemper explains. 

Ugh. There was that line again. The whole spirit idea? Holden just found it so boring. It was distasteful, anyway. 

“I invited you many times to visit, but even with this, I never thought you'd actually come.” Kemper was pretending to be offended, or upset, or something like that. Just a little. Or perhaps he really was. 

Either way, Holden felt the slight tickle of pride. Holden really caught Ed, didn’t he? Kemper thought  _ he _ was in charge, but really, Holden had power here. Kemper hurt himself just to get Holden to pay attention to him, just because Holden didn’t speak to him for a while. Holden had power. Holden possessed a degree of control. That was what he enjoyed the most about speaking to Ed. Control. 

  
  


“Why are you here, Holden?” Kemper asked the FBI agent in front of him. 

Holden knew what kind of game Kemper was playing, and he was going to  _ play along.  _ He thought about the act of crying, and he kept his eyes open for a little too long before each blink, letting them water as the cold air touched them. Holden was good at playing lost. He was good at playing scared and confused. It was probably one of his best, he'd say. 

“I don’t know,” he lied, easily, making himself sound so desperate. So lost. 

“Well now,” Kemper said. “That is the truth.” And Holden nearly laughed. He was amused. He was also pleased with himself. He fooled Kemper. 

When Ed took Holden in his arms, Holden knew that Ed was still playing the game. Ed was trying to mess with Holden, with his feelings and his thoughts. But Holden did it better. Holden made Ed take drastic measures just to get his attention. Holden was doing it better. Holden was winning the game. 

Because Ed didn’t even realise that Holden was  _ just like him.  _ Ed didn’t notice that Holden wasn’t upset. Holden was amused and pretending. That’s what was so funny. Right now, Kemper thought he was winning. But he wasn’t. Holden was. 

And Holden couldn’t help but laugh, in Ed’s arms. He could feel Ed tense slightly, trying to figure out what was going on. Holden couldn’t see Ed’s face, but he could imagine his expression. It took a couple of seconds, Holden knew, for Kemper to realise that Holden wasn’t crying. He was laughing. 

And then Kemper let his arms drop. And Holden was laughing so hard that there were real tears in his eyes. 

“Holden?” Kemper asked, pretending to care about him. 

Holden stopped laughing abruptly, staring gleefully into Ed’s eyes as he grinned. Because this was incredible. Nothing could be more entertaining. Because Kemper  _ didn’t know yet.  _ He hadn’t figured it out. Kemper thought Holden was having some kind of psychotic episode, didn’t he? Kemper thought he’d  _ broken  _ Holden. He still hadn’t noticed that Holden had just been playing the game the whole time. Playing it better. 

“Got you,” Holden said like the cat that got the cream. “I got you.” 

Holden saw Ed’s eyes narrow ever so slightly as he started to realise what was going on. He looked, perhaps, slightly annoyed. If anything at all, that was. 

“I got you,” said the grinning Holden. “You thought  _ you _ got  _ me _ . But  _ I _ got  _ you _ .” 

There was a few seconds of silence as they looked into each other’s eyes. And then Kemper seemed to relax his whole body, his face morphing into the facade of casual friendliness. “Well now,” he said. “This _is_ unexpected.” 

They weren’t playing the game anymore. And Holden was bored again. Everything felt bland. He was bored again, and it was annoying. He pretended to have a panic attack when he left the room. He was pleased when he managed to fool actual doctors, actual nurses. But he was bored again after that. His amusement was brief, shallow. And that was annoying. 

Soon he would have to find something better. A better game to play. 

But now he was bored. 

**Author's Note:**

> vaguely inspired by Villanelle's behaviour in Killing Eve. you know the way she winds people up by pretending to be emotional and then starts laughing? yeah. 
> 
> anyways, please comment, because I live for comments.


End file.
